Risk Management Services

Respond without creating a new emergency

Special traffic rules apply to a law enforcement officer in situations when you are operating as an emergency vehicle with lights and sirens engaged and responding to an emergency call. Running hot, or running code, does not mean you can drive without regard to others. It means you are not bound by normal rules of the road, including speed limits, complete stops, etc. (Ark. Code Ann. § 27-51-901). However, you still have a duty to exercise ordinary care, even when responding to an emergency.

Ordinary care is defined in City of Little Rock v. Weber, 298 Ark. 382, 767 S.W.2d 529 (Ark. 1989). In this case, Plaintiff Virginia Weber filed suit against the city of Little Rock to recover for damages she sustained when a police patrol car ran a red light and struck her vehicle. The jury found the officer was at fault for the accident, even though he had lights and sirens on. The Court determined that even though officers have special privileges when proceeding with lights and sirens activated, an officer is not relieved from the duty to exercise ordinary care.

What ordinary care comes down to is how carefully you are driving and considering others on the road, even when operating with lights and sirens activated. Even when running code, you must still “drive with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway.” (Ark. Code Ann. § 27-51-901).

While it is undisputed that responding to an emergency is critical, equally important is not creating a new emergency on your way. Although emergency vehicles may drive faster than the speed limit, and do not have to fully obey traffic lights and stop signs, you must still drive carefully. Driving 30 miles an hour over the speed limit on a two-lane county road will likely not be seen as an exercise of ordinary care. Thirty miles an hour over a posted speed limit of 40 mph, or even 55 mph, is substantially higher than the speed limit on a road where there are multiple side-roads and blind driveways. It is foreseeable that another car will pull out and you would not have time to stop or avoid collision. I have many cases where witnesses claim that the officer was driving so fast, they were “outrunning their sirens.” You must always keep in mind that factors such as your speed and the type of road you are on (wooded and curvy vs. open and flat) will impact how far in front of you the siren can be heard.

Another case I regularly have is one where the emergency vehicle is proceeding through an intersection at a red light. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-49-109 provides that “the driver of any authorized emergency vehicle when responding to an emergency call upon approaching a red or stop signal or any stop sign shall slow down as necessary for safety but may proceed cautiously past the red or stop sign or signal.” In the context of a red light, ordinary care dictates that the officer must ensure that there is no oncoming traffic proceeding through a green light. You cannot assume cross traffic will see or hear you as you go through a red light. How slowly and cautiously you go through a red light depends on the circumstances of each intersection. How many lanes are there? How many cars are present? These factors impact the oncoming traffic’s ability to see you. Do you have a clear view of the cross-traffic lanes? If you can’t see them, they likely can’t see you. Remember, it is the law enforcement officer’s duty to ensure that no one is coming when they proceed through a red light, even when lights and sirens are activated.

When I am evaluating accident cases involving an officer running code, there are many factors that are considered to determine if they were using ordinary care. For instance, the nature of the call the officer is responding to is always considered. If an officer is responding to a call that is not extremely urgent, there will be less of a need to travel quickly or to proceed through red lights at busy intersections, whereas responding to a call that involves imminent physical injury or danger to a person creates a stronger defense for high speeds and not observing all traffic signals. Other factors to be considered include the existing weather conditions and the time of day.

The type of road the officer is traveling on is also a very important factor when considering if an officer is using ordinary care. For instance, a busy road with many cars, pedestrians, businesses, or homes and driveways on it will always require slower driving than an interstate. A road that has many curves and hills will also require slower driving than a completely flat road, due to reduced sight distance for both the law enforcement officer and the other vehicles.

If you are involved in an auto accident, it is important to save any video footage from the dash cam of your unit or from your body cam. Civilians often claim injuries days, or sometimes weeks, after the initial accident, even after denying any injury on the scene. In addition, their retelling of events may change as time passes. Video footage can be the difference between resolving the case early on and winding up in court at a jury trial to determine whether you are at fault for the accident. In addition to dash cam and body cam footage, taking photos of the scene is extremely helpful. Even though another officer will likely be working the accident and making a report, consider taking your own photos to provide us. Photos of the location of the vehicles on the roadway, and the surrounding scene can also be the difference between avoiding a lawsuit or not.

And remember, although promptly responding to emergency calls is critical to the person or people who need your help, it is equally important to get there without creating a new emergency.

MELISSA DUGGER Risk Management Litigation Counsel